General Question

Do you know actors who have other skills or likes besides acting?

Some may think this is a trivial question, but i think this could give a good clue about the person and the role choices he or she makes. Look at Keanu Reeves; Bill & Ted Excellent adventure, Johnny Mnemonic, The Matrix, A Scanner Darkly,.... maybe this guy likes sci-fi, dont you think?

21 Answers

I work in the movie business. All actors have other skills aside from acting… but it depends on what you consider a skill. Whenever we’re casting for something and we get a large stack of applications, it’s neat to look at “Special Abilities”. Some people consider being able to play tennis or juggle a special ability, some speak two, three or more languages. Some can do free running, or they know martial arts, or they can play a musical instrument.

It helps to have those things. You never know when, during the course of making a movie, one of those “You know what might be cool?” moments come up and then there’s a quick little scene where the lead villain entertains a child with a very natural “now you see it, now you don’t” gag.

Ron Howard now directs films.
Paul Newman raced cars, in addition to his “Hole-in-the-Wall camps for kids with cancer, and his Newman foods, all profits for charity.
Robert Redford founded the Sundance Film Festival and all the ancillary projects accompanying it.
Danny Thomas—-> St/ Jude’s Hospital.
Karen Allen (Raiders of the Lost Ark) runs a Yoga Center and cashmere sweater cottage industry in Great Barrington, MA.
Steve Martin and Wm Shatner write novels.
Jerry Lewis raises money for Muscular Distrophy

:D right, Viggo Mortensen speaks several languages: spanish, english and,... elvish.
See? maybe being fluid in languages gave him the little plus to speak elvish in the movie. i dont know. maybe.
Daniel Day Lewis always plays historical movies. And oh, Steve Martin plays the banjo by ear. The point is, like Loveloke said, these characteristics give the actor a tool to work with. or a starting point. Maybe the guy knows kung-fu. That may help in, i dont know, an action movie, not necessarily kicking asses, but moving in certain way, or a dance movie.
Others may write good novels, like someone said, and maybe this gives them the hability to cooperate in the movie, or choose a determinated movies that define a certain purpose. Look at dicaprio and his movies.

And there’s Woody Allen, who started out as a joke writer for the gossip columnists and then some TV comedians (Steve Allen?). He is a screenwriter, playwright, actor, director, actor, stand-up comedian, jazz clarinetist and writer of some of the funniest short stories I have ever read, including The Whore of Mensa and The Kugelmass Episode (which transports Mme Bovary to the Plaza Hotel in 1980 or thereabouts.)

And Garrison Keillor, who doesn’t play the sax but sings and writes novels as well as producing, directing and writing Prairie Home Companion. He also does a little daily squib on NPR called The Writer’s Almanac.

not an actor, but it’s still interesting: Dexter Holland, lead singer of the Offspring was a Ph.D candidate in microbiology, and has an airline transport pilot license and has made a solo flight around the world in 10 days.

Jared Leto is the lead singer of 30 Seconds To Mars.
Bruce Willis, Keanu Reeves and James Marsters also play or sing in bands.
Natalie Portman has studied psychology and co-written a psychology paper in 2002.